"Woah," Kiba's voice echoed. "I feel so weird."
What? Sasuke thought. He felt himself frown but it didn't feel right. Something about his facial muscles just...moved differently.
"Oh we messed up." Kiba's voice said, almost hysterically dragging the last word out.
Again Kiba's voice echoed, it was almost as if it was inside of his head and not just out loud.
"I am in your head! Sasuke, open your eyes, we seriously messed up!"
Slowly, as if coming out of a genjutsu placed by Sakura - hers were always the most disorienting - Sasuke opened his eyes. Only to immediately close them again as a harsh light attacked his eyesight. He was sure it had been late in the afternoon when their seal went off, and not even sunny then. It was actually somewhat cloudy out. Perfect for cloud watching with a certain Nara if he had been around.
He peeled his eyes open slowly to adjust to the light that was just too artificial to be of the sun and yet so bright and shocking for it to be of Konoha technology.
"Dude, I'm in your head!" Kibas shrill voice finally penetrated his thoughts. Although he could hear Kiba in the back of his mind, muttering strange words that he was just on the cusp of understanding, and yet it was this sentence that finally caught his attention.
"You're in my head." The squeaky unmistakably young voice that came out of Sasuke's own mouth was not his own. Even as a child he hadn't sounded this juvenile.
"Yes you did." Kiba snorted. "But we have more things to worry about than you're fucking voice. LIKE HOW I'M STUCK IN YOUR HEAD!"
So the seal worked, just not in the way they intended. That's fine, they could work through that. Just have to move and redraw what they were working with. Sealing was a language itself and there were bound to be a few mistakes.
"Hurry up, I don't like your head."
'Well no one told you to get stuck there!' Sasuke thought back. His eyesight took far too long to come back but when it did he realized that he certainly was not outside anymore.
Instead he found himself in a small room that held only a bed and a small chest. This was not the place they had drawn the seal that's for sure.
"Find some ink and let's hurry up already." Kiba grumbled. "Your head is a dark and scary place."
"Don't snoop!" Sasuke said out loud. Again that strange squeaky thing came out of his mouth instead of his husky manly one.
"You really don't have a-"
"Stop reading my thoughts!"
"It's not like I have any choice here!" Kiba growled. "How come I get stuck in your head and not the other way huh? That's so unfair!"
Sasuke sat up, having found himself to be laying on the ground. His chest pulsed in pain and his head felt oddly heavy. Probably Kibas fault. Deftly ignoring the complaints in his head with a practiced ease, he sighed out of his nose. Alone. They were all alone in this tiny room that was so obviously not Konoha.
"Akamaru?" He hissed. "Come here boy."
Nothing. The large white dog that he was so used to seeing around was nowhere to be found. Sasuke couldn't hear Kiba anymore, but he could feel the panic and anxiety that wafted over him. "Akamaru!" He said a little louder and far more urgently than he was before. "Dude!"
A sharp knock on the door shocked him out of his full blown panic. "What is all this screaming about!"
"Sorry Teacher!" The words flew out of his mouth. "I will be better." Sasuke continued. He reached up to his mouth. He had spoken but it had not been in his control. Sure the words came to mind first, an almost immediate response to the reprimand he would surely receive, but it had not even occurred to him to speak at all.
"Oh no no no spooky scary ghosts live in your head!" Kiba whispered screamed. Though Sasuke was sure no one could hear him in his own head, Kiba went on quietly. "Nope, get me out. Uh uh creepy kid in your head no thank you."
'You're a creepy kid in my head.' Sasuke thought.
"No you don't understand, a random creepy kid crawled out of nowhere and started speaking."
That was a terrifying thought that Sasuke would rather not dwell on.
"Hello! I'm still here! I have to dwell on it!" Kiba screamed in distress. In his mind's eye he could see Kiba's face, a mixture of blind panic and genuine fear.
'Well you have fun doing that. I have to find Akamaru and figure out where the hell we landed.'
The immediate guilt that settled at the pit of Sasuke's stomach was unexpected. Being mean to Kiba was only fun when Kiba wasn't already so obviously distraught and stressed.
Akamaru was practically his baby, he meant more to him than anything in the world. Sasuke couldn't imagine losing Itachi, it must have felt the same to Kiba.
'Sorry,' he found himself apologizing. 'We'll find him.'
Soon he hoped.
A boarding school.
They were in a boarding school. Speaking a language neither really understood but came out of his mouth perfectly, and speaking to children he had never once seen in his life, but interesting as if he knew them for years.
A bouncy boy sat across from him at the dining room table. He was covered from head to toe in dirt from the labor they were forced to do in the mornings before breakfast was served. Besides, Sasuke was a shy boy, perhaps six years of age. He was scrawny and didn't speak much, but he seemed like a nice kid.
Whatever the seal had done it had put them into somewhere in the elemental nations that they had never heard of. A village named Russia.
The younger boys all looked at him oddly when he asked at the suggestion of Kiba, but they were all eager to answer questions and prove how intelligent they were.
"This is our Mother country!" One little boy exclaimed delightedly. His miniature shovel hung loose enough in his hands that he could swing it around with ease. "That's what my Ma used to say all the time."
"Where is your Ma?" Sasuke asked. Kiba growled in his head, some warning about not being so nosey.
"Hm? Oh she's sleeping around the village back home. My Aunt Petra used to say that my mom had a real talent!" The boy laughed.
"Oh Kami he doesn't know what that means." The horrified hush in Kibas tone almost made Sasuke laugh. "Poor sweet innocent…I wanna prank him. Let's find Akamaru and then we can come up with something."
"That's nice." Sasuke replied to the little boy. "She must be really talented if your Aunt says so."
He was relieved to be spared from the rest of the conversation when their breakfast was served. While it wasn't amazing, it was certainly better than what he was used to eating on border patrols. Now that was food he could live without.
"Eat quicker." The boy across from him spoke. "Class starts soon, Teacher gets angry if you walk in still chewing."
Sasuke forced himself to shovel the food quicker.
One good thing that had come out of sharing a body? Being able to take tests more efficiently. One thing that made sharing a body annoying? Having to take tests and not agreeing on the answers.
"Dude you're wrong!"
'How am I the one who's wrong? It's so obviously not A!'
"Teacher literally said that the Tsar passed away in 1925!"
'That's impossible, it had to be 1901!'
In the end when the test was returned to them to review they found that they both had mistaken the date. The Tsar had passed away in 1918.
Akamaru was nowhere to be found.
At first Kiba was hopeful that he had been found in the school somewhere and they would be able to just look anywhere for him.
That was proven false when it came out that dogs were under no circumstances allowed in the school. And that any pets found would be executed.
The anxiety that the two had lived under for months was excruciating. They both knew that if Akamaru was found than the whole school would be abuzz. So they put their minds together and tried to gather information.
It was hard but honest work.
Sometimes children would jump out of bushes and inform them they would be having a test soon. Or an older student would shuffle by and mention the teacher patrolling certain areas to watch out for.
They listened for rumors. Signs that animals had been found or things that had appeared. Kiba had the brilliant idea of throwing a cat into a classroom and seeing how long it would take for it to make the rounds of the rumor mill.
Two and a half hours.
When the teachers found out all the students were made to stand in the courtyard. The biting chill of the Russian air nipped at their ears and fingertips. It was obvious that no one wanted to be outside less than the students.
Sasuke and Kiba watched as the cat they had kidnapped was executed.
The two decided not to test animals again.
It did confirm one thing though. Akamaru was not there.
One of the first things they tried when left alone was chakra.
It was faint but it was there. Unfortunately it was inaccessible to both of them no matter how hard they tried.
The only thing that would show was purple flame. And only then when Kiba put all of his energy into producing it into Sasuke's hands.
They were no closer to finding Akamaru.
"The circus is coming this way." Victor whispered to Sasuke, having crawled through the vents to get to Sasuke's bedroom. "Heard you wanted out. That's your chance."
Kiba had already heard three other boys discussing it while in class. Sasuke paid attention to the lectures and Kiba eavesdropped on everyone not paying attention.
Sasuke thanked the boy anyway for telling him.
"That's our chance." Kiba said. Over the years he had withdrawn himself more and more. Though the steady hope that Akamaru was alive pulled him through. "I can feel him out there. I know he's alive."
'We'll find him.' Sasuke reassured him. Try as he might, he had gotten attached to the overgrown rat. Four years in this new world, and the thought of Akamaru sometimes made his eyes stung with tears.
"He's waiting."
They snuck out in the dead of night.
A small part of Sasuke, and even Kiba though he was loath to admit it, would miss the school. It had been a steady source of family and attention they both craved.
It was easier to leave, they had been trained for this their whole lives. While they watched other children get caught and thrown by their ears back into the boarding house, Sasuke snuck out and into the chilly air.
The circus was bright and beautiful. They made no attempt to disguise themselves. Far as they were, even the boarding house could see the bright lights and shining interior of the tents that were thrown out.
It was all the more tempting for school boys and oh so easy for them to get to.
"I want to join." He told the first man he saw.
"Then get in and be quiet," the man hissed. He wore face paint and a red wig. A clown his mind supplied.
Spooky.
"Yes sir." His long forgotten manners made an appearance.
The labor was not any harder than he was used to. The school worked them more than the circus ever could.
"We need acrobats." A tall lady had said one day. She said it generally but she stared Sasuke down making it known who she wanted.
"Take em." The clown Sasuke worked under pushed him to her. "Have no need for brats."
"That liar!" Kiba yelled, practically stomping his foot in Sasuke's mind. "He totally needs us!"
Privately Sasuke agreed.
"Good. Kid get over there and start stretching. I need you on ropes."
Honest hard work.
They both hated it.
It was for Akamaru, they could travel and hopefully find him. That's the only reason they were here, once they found him it was over.
"I can feel him." Kiba admitted once. "He's somewhere far away but he's here."
Sasuke believed him. Though he couldn't feel Akamaru, the conviction in Kiba's voice was enough.
They were sixteen years old when on a whim they walked into a sushi restaurant and came face to face with Akamaru.
Holding a knife.
And an octopus.
"Oodako keep workin! I don't pay you to stare!"
What the fuck.
"THAT'S AKAMARU!" Kiba belted out in a rage. "WE HAVE TO STEAL HIM!"
Let it never be said that Sasuke had any sort of impulse control.
On the run from a sushi restaurant was probably the most fun either of them have had in years.
Thankfully the circus was already packing up and leaving. The director screamed at several people to hurry and lug that motorcycle into the van or so help him god-
"Something the matter?" Sasuke asked, pointing at the seven men lugging the thing. "Doesn't Vector usually do that?"
"Yeah well he's dead. Ran into the wrong crowd here." The director grumbled. "Fuckin mafia always takes my best men."
"Mm." Sasuke agreed.
The director cursed his luck for a few moments before suddenly side eyeing Sasuke. "You're about the right height and weight for that thing."
"Yeah?" Sasuke replied, hardly paying attention. Far more concerned with Akamaru suddenly pulling a knife out on one of the clowns.
"Uh huh. You could be my new stuntman."
"SAY YES!" Kiba screamed, already over excited from finding Akamaru and their chase from the chef.
"Hm? Oh yea sure." Sasuke answered absentmindedly. He walked forward, hardly hearing the directors reply. The knife was getting steadily larger the more Akamaru waved it around.
"Good good. Oh yes, my new Motorcyclist. Gotta have you practicing your jumps in a few hours. LETS GO BOYS LET'S HIT THE ROAD!"
Sasuke's head flipped up. His eyes widened comically and his mouth flipped open. "Wait what did I say yes-?"
"WERE GONNA RIDE THAT BABY!" Kiba yelped. "OH YEAH BEST DAY EVER."
Oh.
Maybe Sasuke should listen less to Kiba.
"We're gonna do stunts and be famous and-"
Or maybe he should let him have his fun, the anxiety that had plagued the boy had been so intense for the past few years.
What was the worst that could happen?
"So stage names. Gotta go big or go home ya hear me?"
"Uh huh." Sasuke muttered.
"See, my last man's name was Bones. Get it? He had unbreakable bones, that's what he always used to say. So you could be Skull! Hear? Hm gotta come up with a tag but whatcha thinkin!"
"Say you like it!" Kiba cried. "Skull de mort!" They just had to incorporate Kibas latest obsession somehow. Some character in a magazine that went by some raunchy name like that.
"If you don't like it just speak up." The director growled.
Instead of letting this brilliant opportunity go, Sasuke said what the heck and ran with this whole Skull de mort thing.
"Skull de mort." Sasuke sighed barely hearing himself over the loud cheats of Kiba.
"I like the way you think kid!"